[rabbitmq-discuss] Question about starting a node

[srd]

Hi Tim,
Thank you for your help and clarification.  I will probably have more questions as I am just getting started with RabbitMQ.  

   	-------Original Message-------
 From: Tim Watson <tim at rabbitmq.com>
 To: srd <srd at duneram.com>, Discussions about RabbitMQ
<rabbitmq-discuss at lists.rabbitmq.com>
 Subject: Re: [rabbitmq-discuss] Question about starting a node
 Sent: 01 May '13 06:00

 Hi,

 On 30 Apr 2013, at 23:39, srd wrote:

 > I'm new to rabbitMQ.
 > Having trouble getting connection to my RabbitMQ node:
 > I start fresh (ps shows nothing running)
 > I had no .erlang.cookie prior to starting because I deleted it.
 >

 Erm, you need a cookie in order to do just about anything.

 > I start the server (as rabbitmq user)
 > -bash-4.1$ rabbitmqctl status
 > Status of node rabbit at node1 ...
 > Error: unable to connect to node rabbit at node1: nodedown
 >

 If you've got no cookie, then rabbitmqctl won't be able to connect to your
broker...

 > DIAGNOSTICS
 >
 > I've tried looking at the docs and this one puzzles me.
 > 1) I could see why rabbit at node1 isn't able to connect because I just
started it.  Is that what the error pertains to?

 Yes. It's not rabbit at node1 connecting to itself. It's
`rabbitmqctl2469 at node1` trying to connect to rabbit at node1.

 > 2) Why does it think my nodename is rabbitmqctl2469 at node1?
 >   Why isn't it rabbit at node1 ?

 That's the node name of the rabbitmqctl process, not the broker process.
They need to be able to 'talk to one another', which requires them to share
the same erlang cookie.

 > On top of all the problems trying to connect with rabbit at node1, it
appears the node name is now different
 >
 > before it was:
 > node name: rabbitmqctl24649 at node1
 > now its
 > node name: rabbitmqctl24868 at node1
 >
 > Would someone explain what is going on?

 That's completely normal. As I mentioned previously, the rabbitmqctl node
is different to the broker node. Each time you launch rabbitmqctl, it'll
choose a different node name, so that if you're trying to run multiple
rabbitmqctl commands simultaneously, the node names don't clash.

 HTH!

 Cheers,
 Tim